Welcome to the Home of UVA's Institutes on Academic Diversity

Hello and welcome! We've designed this site as your 'go to' place for reliable information and resources on Differentiated Instruction. The site is also the home of the Institutes that we host on the grounds of the University of Virginia. We hope that this site provides you a place to share your successes with others and find help from experts in the field. We look forward to sharing this journey with you. You may want to begin by learning about how we define Differentiated Instruction.

Carol Tomlinson
William Clay Parrish Jr. Professor of Education
Curry School of Education - University of Virginia

Tomlinson's Latest

In her monthly column for Ed Leadership, Carol talks thinks back on the communication patterns of the effective leaders she's worked with, I shares seven shared characteristics in how they interacted with her and her peers:

"Some portion of leadership is silent. As we watch people in leadership positions, we see that they live out (or don't) what they ask of colleagues: hard work, principled convictions, trustworthiness, courage, and so on. Such modeling is revealing, potent, and instructive"

Videos from our Presenters

Featured Video 1

Just getting started with Differentiation?

In a video clip filmed at one of our Institutes, Carol Tomlinson breaks down three basic ways researchers tell us that students can differ with respect to learning: readiness, interest, and learning profile. She then suggests how teachers might differentiate with these needs in mind.

Media of Interest

Using Technology to Become a Better Listener

In a new ASCD Express issue on Differentiation and Technology, Melinda Moran shares practices that help us know our students better and suggests online resources that support those practices: Becoming Better Listeners.

Podcast: PreK-12 Talk Radio

Ed Week blogger, Peter DeWitt, uses an article published in Educational Leadership by Carol Tomlinson and Jane Jarvis, "Teaching Up," as a springboard to discuss setting high expectations for all students.

Award-winning teacher, author and blogger, Larry Ferlazzo asked Carol Tomlinson and Rick Wormeli to help answer the question, "What is the best advice you can give to a teacher about differentiating instruction?" Read how they answered that question in his Teacher Blog in Education Week."